Football: Lahm backs youthful England to build on World Cup run

September 9, 2018

Football: Lahm backs youthful England to build on World Cup run

BERLIN: England’s relatively inexperienced team showed cohesion and spirit at the World Cup and their semi-final run in Russia can lay the foundations for a period of sustained success, former Germany captain Philipp Lahm said.

Lahm noticed similarities between Gareth Southgate’s side and the Germany team that finished third in consecutive World Cups before they went on to lift the title in Brazil four years ago.

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“What I saw on the pitch was a good, functioning team … I believed they had a good chance because they had a young and talented team,” World Cup winner Lahm told reporters.

“Everyone was helping each other and this is what you need to be able to compete at the highest level. Good team spirit is what you need to be successful.”

Southgate led the side to the World Cup semi-finals in July, where they were beaten 2-1 by losing finalists Croatia, and Lahm said England’s players needed to learn from their shared experience and build on it as Germany had done.

“Looking at our team from 2006 to 2014, it helped writing history together … it was educational, everybody knew how a team mate would react in difficult times or under pressure. This knowledge helped us compete at the highest level,” Lahm added.

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England return to action with a Nations League game against Spain on Saturday (Sep 8). They then take on Switzerland at Leicester’s King Power Stadium in a friendly on Tuesday.